Comments on: Fixing Getting Things Done

By: whakate

whakate — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:54:53 +0000

GTD does not replace planning or prioritization. But it will help you get stuff out of your way you have to deal with anyway. Hence so many custom implementations exist. You have look at the desired outcome first - your project goal - the defined feature set for the next release. Then define a cut off (or feature freeze).

By: uwe

uwe — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:56:47 +0000

Depends on what you consider “slow”. If you test Behold’s speed against giant gedcom files with 100000+ individuals then this is a somewhat extreme case. How many genealogist out there really have such a big database? I guess it’s less than 1% of your potential customers.

Not that I want to prevent you from optimizing Behold, though…

Keep up the good work!
Uwe

By: Louis Kessler

Louis Kessler — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:15:22 +0000

You’re right Uwe. Behold’s feature set is currently good enough for a Version 1.0. What was lacking was it’s slowness, which I’m now remedying.

The current version expires at the beginning of April, and I’m working hard to ensure that the replacement will be the beta, whether or not I’ve got all of it functioning again. The beta phase can fix all that and get Behold to 1.0.

By: uwe

uwe — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:00:48 +0000

The secret is not really a secret, Louis… . Do a feature freeze, get version 1.0 out, and keep all the good ideas you have (and you have a lot!) for later releases.

By: Louis Kessler

Louis Kessler — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:44:29 +0000

The secret, then, is probably to always have a working version that is available.

If nothing else, Behold has been available to the world for what is now 4 years. I have been told that it’s really not an “alpha” and should always have been called a “beta” because it has been released - even though I’ve given it very little marketing other than word of mouse. By releasing it early, I’ve got great feedback and input and extra motivation to help push Behold along.

This has led to incremental changes of what I consider most important at the time, which essentially has been my methodology. My experience has shown that just “doing the next action item, the next thing on your list” works for the multitude of small things you want to do, but not for big ever-expanding projects.

There is no visible end of this infinite road. And it keeps changing directions while you walk on it. What I need to do is get to a few important milestones: what I call beta, then Version 1, and then Version 2 with editing. I hoped I would have been there long ago, but I still find myself walking. The journey so far has been very enjoyable, and the milestones up ahead look even better. Stay tuned.

By: ram09

ram09 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:39:32 +0000

Interesting blog post, but at the same time I’m having issues fully believing these methodologies. Software development is like a very long road. There are always enhancements that can make the drive more scenic or enjoyable, but after a while I would like to see my destination before I run out of gas, but at the same time, you want to make sure your software has something to offer before setting it out on the world. Unfortunately, its figuring out the balance between what is needed to make the software worth while and trying to get it out that ends up being the difficult part.

I like your To Do list identifying the 3 types of items (wants, needs and bug fixes) since you at least identify the type of work. No software is ever “done” and eventually some of these items will need to be pushed in the “maintenance” phase or post release so that you can get your product out there! (or at least remove the script that has your deadline always 1 month away!)

Consider this a motivational boost to get the Beta version out!